Scottish Ownership support service

COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP SUPPORT SERVICE (COSS)
The Scottish Government has provided funding to the Development Trust Association Scotland (DTAS) to establish COSS.  Building on a previous pilot phase, COSS will offer support and advice to both communities and local authorities to explore and advance the effective transfer of local authority assets to community ownership.

Support for communities includes:-
• Providing expert advice on all aspects of asset transfer
• Offering training seminars on the asset transfer and asset development process
• Sign-posting groups to other relevent support agencies
• Providing a web resource including information on good practice, toolkits and case studies

Support for local authorities will take the form of an advice and support service focussed on community asset transfer.  This could include:-
• Helping council staff develop or devise an asset transfer strategy for the authority e.g. through discussions, workshops, resources, study visits, provision of good practice examples etc
• Providing an independent review of an authority’s current policy and practice on asset transfer or identifying priority areas for development.
• Providing training sessions with elected members and/or council staff to explore strategic, operational and practical aspects of asset transfer.
• Providing training for community organisations within the local authority area to build their capacity to explore and take forward the ownership of local assets.
More information:- http://www.dtascot.org.uk/content/asset-transfer